On the same day, on another continent, in another universe, it seemed, the announcement had come that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had won the Nobel Peace Prize. ““I would be happy to give up the Nobel prize in order to return our two soldiers to life,’’ Rabin said.
Did the Nobel committee award the prize too soon? Many Israelis thought so. ““The bear named peace has yet to be hunted down, but he has already been skinned and everyone is making suits from him,’’ wrote Israeli novelist and commentator Meir Shalev. ““They don’t give out Nobels for half a study or a quarter of a book. But peace, so it seems, is another matter.’’ For some, the inclusion of Arafat was the real blow. One member of the Nobel Committee, Kaare Kristiansen, resigned in protest, saying Arafat’s ““past is too tainted with violence, terrorism and bloodshed, and his future too unpredictable.’’ Israeli hawks, many of whom believe Arafat is in secret alliance with Hamas, were equally scornful. But Israel’s Menachem Begin, who shared the 1978 award with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, also had innocent blood on his hands from his days as a fighter in pre-Israel Palestine. Arafat’s crimes were more recent – and more widely known. But the kidnapping debacle spotlighted the fact that Arafat is now in the peacemaking business – and underscored the need for him to better control his opponents from Hamas, who are not.
For days, Rabin put the onus on Arafat for Waxman’s safe return – incorrectly insisting that the soldier was in an area under Arafat’s control. After Hamas demanded the release of some 200 prisoners from Israeli jails in return for Waxman’s life, Rabin suspended peace talks. Arafat was in a bind. If Palestinian police used too much force to find the captive, they might uncover a corpse – or ignite a civil war in Gaza.
Until last week Arafat had restrained his own police chief’s urge to throttle Hamas, trying instead to cajole and co-opt them. But the zealots were making a fool of him. On the same day as the kidnapping, two Hamas gunmen opened fire in a Jerusalem pedestrian mall, killing two people and wounding 13. Two days later a leader of the Hamas military wing boasted to reporters that he had no fear of Arafat’s forces. The kidnapping of Waxman further outraged Israelis, who were appalled by a crude video in which the soldier implored Rabin to help secure his release ““so I come out of here alive.''
Rabin told Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in the region to nudge Syria and Israel toward a settlement, that ““Arafat must choose between making peace with Israel or making peace with Hamas.’’ Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t, Arafat ordered a massive police sweep in Gaza that netted some 200 people. But police failed to turn up the only person who really counted.
Waxman’s distraught mother asked his captors to ““treat my son in accordance with their religious and moral ethics.’’ In comments aired on Israel Radio, she added: ““We have the same God.’’ From his Israeli prison cell, the blind and crippled Hamas spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, called on his followers not to kill Waxman. But Hamas vowed to escalate attacks if Arafat didn’t back off. As the Jewish Sabbath began, Estber Waxman lit nine candles “for each member of my family, including Nachshon,” and urged other women around the world to join her. Two prominent Arab-Israelis, one a member of the Knesset, were in Gaza on an eleventh-hour mission to find a peaceful way out.
On the day of the deadline, Rabin learned that the young soldier was not, in fact, in Gaza, but rather in Bir Nabala, a Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Rabin conceded later that Hamas had “succeeded in fooling us” by taping a video of Waxman at the West Bank hideout and later releasing it in Gaza.) Israeli policy is to reject blackmail. Yet Rabin indicated that he was willing to consider, at least, trading Sheik Yassin for Waxman -if for no other reason than to buy time. The raid began 90 minutes before the original deadline-and just as rumors began circulating that Hamas had agreed to a 24-hour extension. Rabin was told by aides at the time that “an offer does not yet exist.”
Arafat’s dilemma is far from over. Israel says the kidnapping was planned and directed from the Gaza Strip. In Rabin’s eyes, Gaza is turning into a haven for anti-Israeli killers, He warned last week that “whoever wants to advance the peace must fight the murderous radical Islamic terror.” Israel is certain to try to track down the fugitive Hamas members connected to the kidnapping, and will expect Arafat to help. He already has problems in Gaza, where the fruits of peace are few. Although Israeli soldiers have withdrawn from Arab population centers, they continue to guard Jewish settlements in the strip. Arafat has used a trickle of aid to pave some roads and whitewash walls once covered with revolutionary graffiti. But he can’t whitewash the fact that tens of thousands are out of work and the economy is utterly dependent on Israel, which insists on a right to veto participants in Palestinian elections. Arafat’s militant opponents say that he is turning into an Israeli puppet.
The negotiations are likely to survive the storm. “Hamas killed Waxman and we’re not going to give them the satisfaction of killing the peace process,” said Israeli Health Minister Ephraim Sneh. The talks won’t progress quickly unless Arafat finds a way to better contain anti-Israel violence. Yet even Israelis acknowledge that a crackdown isn’t a permanent solution. “A lot of thought must be devoted to how they can improve the standard of living in Gaza,” says Sneh. Arafat urgently needs to enhance financial accountability, and Western donors need to deliver aid–quickly.
Of this year’s three Nobel peace laureates, Peres has been most eloquent in elucidating a vision of a gentler future. Yet Rabin and Arafat offer what Peres cannot: their status as former warriors makes them more trusted by their own people to deliver an acceptable settlement. The challenge for both men is to risk some popularity with their supporters, and gain the trust of former enemies. As prayers went up for the dead and wounded last week- mingled, no doubt, with calls for Almighty revenge - the Nobel peacemakers were taking things one crisis at a time.
